


Can We Stay?

by I_Wanna_Revelation



Category: Six - Marlow/Moss, six the musical
Genre: F/F, Implied/Referenced Sexual Harassment, Panic Attacks, Past Sexual Abuse, Pre-Slash, Sexual Harassment, Someone protect my baby Katherine Please
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-06-10
Packaged: 2020-04-24 00:41:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19162303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Wanna_Revelation/pseuds/I_Wanna_Revelation
Summary: Katherine Howard is oblivious and Anna of Cleves is in love. In which Kat just wants to be home and Anna is a gay mess who just wants to watch a movie.





	Can We Stay?

**Author's Note:**

> TRIGGER WARNING!!!! Lots of mentions of past sexual abuse, flashbacks, panic attacks, and sexual harassment in a movie. If this will trigger you, please do not read!!
> 
> Also, this is my first Six fanfic so be gentle I just love these gay beans

Katherine's chest heaved as she stumbled backstage after their last performance of the night. She absolutely loved listening to everyone's stories, and the audience was always so lively and receptive to their words, but each performance had a tendency to drain her both physically and emotionally. Tonight was no exception, as it took her a good five minutes to tame her erratic heartbeat after the adrenaline rush she got from the stage, the remnants of her song still evident on her face.

As she shoved her sweat-soaked costume into her bag and grabbed a mouthful of water, Katherine glanced around the room at the other queens. Anne and Aragon were bickering lightly, with Jane reminding them to keep their voices down in case any audience members were still close by. Cath was captivated by the book that she had stuck in her bag, and Anna sat resting her back against the wall, looking content. Katherine smiled at this. The past couple of weeks had been fairly stressful, and tensions had been extremely high in their shared house. Even Jane had raised her voice when Anne left a pile of wet towels on the floor. Seeing the other girls at ease for the first time in a while made Katherine feel like all of the stress had been worth it.

The last four months of adjusting to her new life had been difficult. She found it hard to trust the queens at first, but she finally felt like she had found a home with her fellow ex-wives. She still woke up screaming occasionally, clawing at her throat with clouded eyes, but Jane would always slide in bed beside her on those nights and help her feel safe again. Lately, the newest addition to her post-nightmare comfort fests had been Anna, strangely enough. Anna had been one of the queens that she found she had not connected with as much, but after Anna wrapped her arm around her and yawned after a particularly bad nightmare Katherine had a month ago, Katherine had found herself to be extremely excited that she was becoming closer to the queen. She smiled softly at the memory before she was brought out of her reverie by Jane, who had stood from her spot next to Parr abruptly. 

"Are you ready?" she said, swinging her bag over her shoulder. "What pub were you guys thinking?" Katherine barely listened as the queens bickered over where to get drinks. Anne and Aragon disagreed, obviously, and Katherine found herself looking over to Anna and rolling her eyes when out of their sight. Once the girls had finally made up their minds, Jane looked over at Katherine and Anna, who had both been quiet during the whole ordeal. "Are you coming with us, Kitty? Anna?"

"I'm not sure about Anna, but I think I'll just head home. I am absolutely exhausted." Katherine said, biting back a yawn before smiling sleepily at Jane. She looked over at Anna, who nodded in agreement. Jane seemed a bit apprehensive, especially since Anna never missed a pub night, but she eventually smiled at the two girls. "If you're sure," and with that, they were gone. 

Katherine glanced at Anna as the door clicked closed, who was slowly gathering the discarded pieces of her costume from the floor. She supposed that she should be getting ready as well, but she remained captivated by the way Anna moved. She was fluid, yet confident even though she was just as exhausted as Katherine. Something about these small things that Katherine had been noticing for weeks made her eager to get closer to Anna. They drew her in, and that terrified her because she had never felt that way before. Whatever conclusion she was about to make from her thoughts was interrupted, however, when Anna looked up to catch her stare.

"Are you almost ready? I thought maybe we could watch a movie or something when we get back to the flat." Anna said, furrowing her eyebrows at the intense blush spread across Katherine's face. What was going on with her? That has to have made at least the tenth time that Anna had caught Kat staring at her with her face covered in confusion. She couldn't help but feel like she had done something wrong. Anna quickly reviewed everything she had done today, particularly her interactions with Katherine. Had she said the wrong thing and somehow made Katherine uncomfortable? Had she revealed too much of her true feelings without realizing? Anna shook the thoughts from her brain, making a mental note to ask Kat about it later.

As Anna shook herself out of her head, Katherine busied herself with lacing up her shoes. The thoughts she had been having lately keep distracting her from maintaining her usual composure and Anna seemed to be noticing. All she wanted to do at this point is to sit on the couch and take Anna up on that offer to watch a movie. She needed something to sink all of her attention into and hopefully get out of the funk she has been in for weeks.

Katherine finished tightening her shoelaces and then looked up to see Anna already waiting at the door. "Ready?" Katherine asked, trying to gather Anna's attention from her phone. "Yes."

They opened the door to the back entrance and immediately, they were hit with a wave of dry and freezing cold air. Katherine tried her hardest to suppress her shivers, as she didn't want Anna to see that she had been right when she warned Katherine to grab a coat. By the time they had reached the entrance to a shop a few doors down from the theater, however, Katherine could not contain her trembling. Her teeth chattering quickly attracted the attention of Anna, who shrugged off her coat and gave it to Katherine. Katherine was quite caught off guard by this, as she expected Anna to at least say 'I told you so,' or something, but she instead offered her coat with a smile. Katherine gratefully accepted it. It smelt like Anna.

They walked in silence for the rest of the trek to their flat. It was too late to call any cabs, so they suffered the short walk. Once they finally arrived, Katherine immediately fell onto the couch dramatically with a groan. Anna chuckled good-naturedly in response before grabbing her legs from their spot draped over the couch and sat down in their place. Katherine flushed at the contact as Anna gently placed Katherine's legs in her lap. Anna was usually much more stand-offish and a bit abrasive at times, but she was always different with Kat. Softer. Katherine found that the thought made her face grow hotter.

"What do you want to watch? Or would you rather sleep?" Anna prodded her back. Katherine gave a muffled response. "Love, sit up. I can't hear you with your face smushed into the cushions." Katherine froze slightly at the sound of that word. The same one that Henry groomed her with all those years ago. She shoved down all of the emotions the word tried to drudge up. She shoved down all of her panic. She will not cry in front of Anna. Not today. 

Anna was oblivious to Katherine's inner turmoil. The only thing she could concentrate on was the fact that Kat had tensed up. Why did she call her that? Now she's probably uncomfortable because she knows that Anna likes her and shes ruined everything just like always. If Anna had been paying attention, she would have noticed Katherine's slight trembling. She didn't notice, though, and Katherine thanked the gods for the dim lighting.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have- I didn't mean to- Let's just watch a movie, shall we?" Anna was so nervous, her fingers shook as she tried to pick a movie. She eventually just settled on picking a random one to fill the silence with something. She had no idea what genre it was or even what rating it was, but she was grateful when the sound filled the gaps around them. Katherine turned over to watch whatever Anna had picked. She needed a distraction, and the lighting seemed dim enough to conceal her still shaking body.

They sit in silence, both staring intently at the screens but for entirely different reasons. Katherine has finally stopped her minor shaking, while Anna is still incredibly nervous about the whole situation, but the plot of the romance movie has pulled them both in enough that Anna can feel it dissipating.  
The next scene of the movie opens up in a bar, with the main character sitting in a barstool holding a drink. A man walks up to her and rests his hand on her thigh. The girl shoves his hand away, but he persists and grips it tightly. The girl struggles with the creepy man before her love interest walks in to slap him, but by then Katherine is far too gone.

Katherine no longer sees the movie on the screen, but Culpepper gripping her thigh. He strokes her hair and tells her she's gorgeous and that he needs her and he has to have her and he will have her and he won't let go he won't let go he won't let go he won't let go! Katherine can't breathe. She keeps gasping for air but every time she opens her mouth she sees Culpeper lean it to try and kiss her and she doesn't want it I said I don't want it, Thomas!

Katherine takes in gulps of air, fighting off the grip on her leg. "I don't want it! I said I don't want you! Leave me alone!" She sobs out, kicking anything she can make contact with. The grip tightens and her fight leaves her. All she can do is cry.

"Kat! Kat, it's me! Look at me, please!" A desperate voice cuts through Katherine's panic, and her eyes slowly begin to adjust to her surroundings. Her real surroundings. She sees a very concerned Anna kneeling in front of her. "Anna?" She chokes out in between desperate gasps of air. Anna grabs her hand and places in on her wrist where she can feel her pulse.

"Kat, do you feel that? I'm here, you're here. We're in our flat in London. Try to match my breaths, yeah?" Anna takes slow, exaggerated breaths. "Yeah, there you go Kitty. You've got this." Katherine slowly begins to regulate her breathing. Tears still stream down her face, but she gives Anna a shaky smile.  
"Thank you. I'm sorry I ruined the movie." Katherine felt terrible. This was the one chance they had to spend time together and Katherine ruined it. There is no way Anna would want to spend time with her now. There is no way Anna would like her now, she realized with a start. Anna looked so beautiful and here Katherine sat with her face red and blotchy and covered in tears. They fell faster now.

"What are you on about? You ruined nothing. If anything, that movie ruined itself by adding such a disgusting, cliche scene in there." Anna was absolutely dumbfounded by the fact that Katherine felt that she had messed up. "It was my fault, anyway," Anna said quietly, revealing her thoughts. "I should have read the rating and the warnings, or the reviews, or something. None of this is your fault." Anna pulled Katherine closer and kissed her head lightly. 

"Thank you, Anna. Can we stay here a bit longer?" Katherine said, looking up at Anna with hopeful eyes. "Of course, Kat." Katherine snuggled further into Anna's side and grinned. 

A couple of hours later, the rest of the queens arrived home from pub night. Jane, who was the first to enter, noticed the two sleeping girls snuggled up together on the couch and called for the rest of the girls to be quiet. As the tipsy girls stumbled up the stairs to change and pass out, Jane walked over to the sleeping queens with a faint smile on her face. "I guess this was why Anna wanted to stay home tonight." Jane grinned as she draped a blanket over the girls. Maybe one day they might realize how painfully obvious their pining was, but for tonight, Jane was happy with their progress.


End file.
